New Exchange Goes Hand-in-Hand With Active Directory

Microsoft
Corp.’s update to the Exchange e-mail server extends the product to match the
new demands for infrastructure. In addition to supporting Windows 2000 specific
features, such as Active Directory, Exchange 2000 is positioned as a business
collaboration back end, far from a simple mail server.

Some
analysts believe that Exchange 2000 will be Active Directory’s “killer app” –
because it will be the first widely deployed enterprise application that relies
on Active Directory. The application could be the catalyst moving enterprises
to Windows 2000 and forcing full scale implementations of Active Directory.

On the
other hand, Exchange 2000 adoption will undoubtedly be slowed by Microsoft’s
decision to build it on top of the Active Directory. Until corporations undergo
the substantial planning and implementation required for the Windows 2000
Active Directory, they can’t move to Exchange 2000.

Directory
services and messaging software would seem to make good partners. By its
nature, an e-mail server needs some central record of users and accounts, and
the integration with Active Directory is intuitive, linking user accounts with
e-mail accounts, creating a comprehensive database of users.

Business
tends to be collaborative endeavors and Microsoft has begun labeling e-mail a
“mission-critical application.” Although only ISPs may see e-mail at the core
of their revenue stream, many businesses come to a grinding halt when e-mail
goes down. Microsoft says that they have enhanced the stability of Exchange
2000, to reflect the new business environment.

Fat
bandwidth has also change the business environment, and Exchange 2000 has
adapted, adding support for bandwidth-intensive features such as Voice over IP,
Video Conferencing, and other multimedia collaboration environments.

Exchange
2000 was officially announced October 1999, at the Exchange Conference in
Atlanta. It was previously code-named “Platinum.” – Christopher McConnell